An Open Cage

 

is available to receive

anything from the outside. Needs

to be redressed one at at time:

new air, clear water, most essentially

a ready flow of flies,

pinballs to rap the fiberglass.

 

Just a quick buzz

upward could mean leaving,

but lizards long to love

their captors, these lazy descendants

of raptors, for whom claws

were not just painted nails

 

in a people-zoo. Behind the counter

a student learns the blade,

the correct one to transform tentacles

into a concept. To be consumed

with the perfection of nigiri

is strange, but no stranger

 

than the cornered professor

lashing out with chopsticks

at a piece of fine artistry. Here

much is elegant and well —

choreographed. Violence one can truly enjoy:

​

the slyness of the knife,

white-hot teeth grinning

above chilly, stark squid,

fish, and hands infected

with the noble syndrome…

 

One fly finally lobs itself

over the miniature wall,

and the lizard listens

as the hinge whispers.